Producer organizations are powerful interveners for farmers. Producer organizations that work smarter not only understand and serve their members better, they also provide the vital traceability and transparency data that today’s responsible sourcing demands. We’ve learned a lot about such organizations and recently embarked on a very productive journey with a major, Nicaraguan producer organization – thanks to funding from the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund and HIVOS –  to craft a state-of-the-art information management system. Asociación Aldea Global, represents a new tier of POs that have invested in digitizing key processes such as those associated with payments, collecting vital member information, and managing internal credit funds for lending to members. They are spearheading a new wave of “Digital POs” to improve operational efficiency and manage high-volume operations, as well as build data-driven relationships with roasters and projects to meet their sourcing and reporting requirements.  

COSA’s knowledge management team first assessed the managers’ needs, then developed a model that cost-effectively gives them the key information they need for decision-making.

The result: Aldea Global enhanced its ability to serve members and improved the speed, cost, and credibility of reporting to key buyers and project partners. COSA looks forward to expanding this model to other major POs in the coming months.